New to scuba and wanted to see if anyone could weigh in on my experience. I signed up for a weekend course, 1 day pool 1 day ocean dive. When we got into the pool I was having trouble getting under water even with my bcd completely deflated. The instructor was yelling at me to go under and I was trying to explain that I kept popping up to the surface. After a long back and forth he finally gave me more weights and I was able to go under.

I snorkel all the time so I get mouth breathing but once I was underwater I felt like I wasn’t getting enough oxygen from the regulator. I told the instructor and he said well maybe this just isn’t for you. I asked to try the skills but I had to keep coming up for air. He then pretty abruptly yanked the additional weights he gave me back and asked me to leave the pool and go back to the shop.

Part of me feels like yes I was having multiple basic issue enough to indicate I really had no business doing this activity. There were 4 other people in the class who didn’t seem to have any issues. But I also feel like we had barely just started and could have sorted it if the instructor didn’t keep telling me we were hours behind schedule and I was holding back the class.

Back at the shop they told me I could redo the pool portion with a new instructor but I’d have to buy the boat ticket for another weekend And pay again. I was excited for this and really wanted to learn, but paying more for the experience on top of how expensive it already was is a little disheartening .

Sorry for rant just wanted to see if more experienced people could weigh in if this is normal and if it’s worth trying again.

Edit: It’s a dive shop in the US. I did the one weekend course which gets you a ‘scuba diver certification’ but they also have the two weekend ‘open water diver’ class

i work as a dockhand, and my dockmaster asked if he can hire me to clean his hull and through-hull. His boat is in the water at the marina. Ive never cleaned a boat before but ive been a diver for 10 years. I was wondering what kind of tools i would need. ive been trying to do research and it seems like i would need a brush and a scraper. any recommendations that i could order on amazon or any tips? its about a 40 ft in length and i invited my dive buddy close friend that will also do the job with me ! we are excited but want to make sure were prepared

I'm thinking of spending 6–8 weeks in Indonesia next summer. I'll be taking about 3 weeks of PTO regardless of whether I stay for 6 or 8 weeks, and I'll spend the remaining 3–5 weeks working remotely from my laptop.

My work schedule is fairly flexible (not as much as it used to be unfortunately), so I'm hoping to squeeze in a couple of dives per day even on workdays. I'll probably spend most of that time based in Bali, possibly with another 1–2 weeks on Nusa Lembongan.

The main complication is the time difference. Most of my colleagues are on Pacific Time, with a couple on Eastern Time, so I'd ideally like to have some overlap with their working hours. Unfortunately, 9 AM–5 PM PT corresponds to midnight–8 AM in Bali, so I'll probably need to adjust my sleep schedule. I'm considering either staying up later or going to bed early and waking up very early.

For those familiar with diving in Bali, is there a significant difference in the quality of the diving between morning dives and dives starting after 11 AM? If morning dives are substantially better, I'd probably opt for an early bedtime and an early start, though then I run into complications with aligning with my eastern time colleagues.

Edit: i have just emailed otter directly.

Hi all, one for the UK people,

I'm thinking about getting myself an Otter drysuit (Atlantic), does anybody that has been to the Go Dive show in recent years remember if Otter offered nice discounts or deals if bought at the show? or should i just order now?

I currently have a working drysuit so i am in no real rush, just trying to get the most bang for my buck.

Hiya. I'm currently in Dahab, will be doing a BDE liveaboard next week.

Trying to decide what wetsuit to bring. Currently in Dahab the water is around 26 C, and I'm perfectly fine with a 3mm sleeveless wetsuit.

Debating whether it will be enough, or if I need to bring my 5mm. I would rather not, because it has a hood and I hate it (and can't cut it off due to the zipper)

Possibly I could just bring a long-sleeved rashguard, and wear it under the 3mm wetsuit.

So yeah. What's the water like currently? Google says it is also 26 C in the water there right now, but I don't know where that's measured (like, is it the same areas where the boat is going, or closer to shore, or... yeah)

Also, if there is anyone of a similar cold tolerance to me who is currently there, what kind of wetsuit are you wearing?

Hi eveyone! I‘ve just upgraded my sport diver case with the lens adapter and macgyvered a quick release mechanism for it to quickly clip on my macro lenses.

Got them stored in neoprene pouches that I plan to clip to my bcd, when not in use, but that might be a bit of a dangley situation, so I was wondering how everybody else carries their lenses whilst diving.

I originally planned to go next month but due to employment related issues, it'll now have to be December which makes me quite wary. Even November I was concerned about since that's after the dry season when diving is at its best but in December, Bali will be in its rainy/wet season and I'm sure that affects the visibility of the water and overall makes it a less pleasant experience.

The good news is that there'll be fewer crowds so it'll be easier actually going to dive in these sites and explore but how much worse would the experience be? Is it still worth going or should I try to go somewhere else? This will be primarily a diving trip for my AOW along with deep/wreck/nitrox specialities (and potentially more), I won't be doing much else.